ZigBee
ZigBee is a specification for a suite of high level communication protocols using small, low-power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4-2003 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs), such as wireless headphones connecting with cell phones via short-range radio. The technology defined by the ZigBee specification is intended to be simpler and less expensive than other WPANs, such as Bluetooth. ZigBee is targeted at radio-frequency (RF) applications that require a low data rate, long battery life, and secure networking.
The ZigBee Alliance is a group of companies which maintain and publish the ZigBee standard.
Updates:
April 09 – The ZigBee Alliance has announced that it will adapt globally accepted standardisation from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) within its wireless communications protocol commonly used in smart metering applications. The announcement follows the action taken last week by the United States’ standards group, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to collaborate with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in order to develop a cohesive set of smart grid standards.
June 09 – The ZigBee Alliance announced it is proposing use of the ZigBee Smart Energy public application profile to the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as a basis for an IEC standard
Notes on ZigBee:
- ZigBee Smart Energy Profile – developed specifically for AMI applications in the HAN space.
- Profile is focused on the communication of messages related to efficiency, usage, price and messaging
- Designed not to specify behaviour, but to specify communications to support behaviour
- Looking to be OpenHAN compliant
- Time synchronisation via meter/energy services portal
- Supports a range of device types:
- ESP (Energy Services Portal) – integrated into meter or standalone
- In Home Display
- PCT (Programmable Communicating Thermostat)
- Load Control devices (Pool Pumps, Water Heaters, Appliances, Lighting etc)
- Some support for Plug In Vehicles
- “Dumb” devices – fridge magnet, glowing orb etc.
- ZigBee Smart Energy Clusters
- Standard – Basic, Identify, Alarms, Time, Commissioning, Power Configuration
- Price
- Multiple commodities – Gas, Water, Electricity, Thermal, Pressure etc.
- Multiple units of measurement
- Multiple currencies
- Scheduling and cancelling
- Multiple Providers and rates
- Price ratios and price tiers
- Tie to meter register tier
- Net metering
- Alternative cost (greenhouse gas/carbon)
- Inter-PAN communication
- Demand Response and Control
- Scheduling and cancelling
- Digital signature for non-repudiation of event participation
- Target individual devices or groups of devices
- Enrolment groups
- Criticality levels, temperature offsets, temperature set points, average load adjustment percentage, duty cycle
- Randomisation of start and stop times to avoid spiking
- Simple Metering
- Multiple commodities
- Multiple units of measure
- Summation, demand tiers, load profile, power factor, demand limit etc
- Instantaneous demand
- Historical information
- Net Metering
- Message
- Scheduling and cancelling
- International character sets (UTF-8)
- Multiple urgency levels
- Optional duration
- Optional message confirmation
- Inter-PAN communication
- Key Establishment
- Security
- Authentication / Identification
- ECC Digital Certificates
- Confidentiality / Encryption / Privacy
- AES-128 (CCM*)
- ECMQV Key Agreement
- Integrity / Replay Prevention
- CCM*
- Counters
- ECDSA Digital Signatures
- Non-Repudiation
- ECDSA Digital Signatures
- Authorization / Access Control / Permissions / Privilege
- Brokered Link Keys
- ECC Digital Certificates
- Availability / Accessibility
- Frequency Agility
- Auditing / Accountability / Traceability
- Report Event Status
- Authentication / Identification
- Looking to include – prepayment, tunnelling for ANSI/DLMS protocols, integration with HomePlug
